Leash, Handle, or Nothing on Spear Gun

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For clarification, the scooter is just to get to different parts of the wreck, not to shoot "on the fly". Most of the fish I've seen on my few dives to the O are around the flight deck (140' - 150'), away from most of the divers. And the sand is 215'. I'm thinking I'd be tough to pull around, even for an AJ, with doubles, small scooter, and probably a deco bottle.

A shark or Goliath Grouper would probably be a different story.


Yeah it may not pull you around, but it could sure wrap you up and make a hell of a tangled mess.

The local guys shoot on the fly all the time, but they are using saddle mounted scooters.

Still don't know why you want doubles at only 150 ft. You planning on doing a lot of deco with an AJ hanging off you?
 
I never tie my gun to me. I also rarely connect the shaft to the gun, so the chances of getting the gun pulled out of my hand is pretty small. When stringing up a fish, the gun may float as the shaft is no longer holding it down. If that happens, you can run your arm through the bands while you work the fish. If your gun sinks, you could also place on the bottom assuming you are near the bottom.
 
I suggest never clipping your gun anywhere on your body or gear. I do have a clip on the rear of my gun. But it's to hang my stringer while I ascend and do safety stops. It's very unlikely a fish will pull the gun out of your hand. It can happen; but still unlikely.

Freeshafting is ideal but I know it's not always possible. I can count on two hands the amount of time's I've found my friends guns floating on surface when I was top guy. New freeshafters get excited shooting fish and forget that their gun floats. I'm usually a nice guy and don't claim salvage :D. Arms through bands fixes that.

If you using a line always use mono. If you get tangled it's easy to cut and get free.

Ditch the doubles and use a single tank with pony if you want redundancy.
 
Lol, OK, so:

1. No leash because a fish shouldn't be able to pull it out of my hands, but a clip on the end to clip off while ascending/descending or to clip the stringer to is fine.
2. No doubles because the point is to get down and back up quick before the sharks get too interested?
3. No scooter because I will probably suck at it and it's one extra thing to deal with?
4. No deco because see note #2?

Does that about cover it?
 
Lol, OK, so:

1. No leash because a fish shouldn't be able to pull it out of my hands, but a clip on the end to clip off while ascending/descending or to clip the stringer to is fine.
2. No doubles because the point is to get down and back up quick before the sharks get too interested?
3. No scooter because I will probably suck at it and it's one extra thing to deal with?
4. No deco because see note #2?

Does that about cover it?

LOL.. pretty much...You can plan a little deco.. I just don't like more than a few minutes.. If you are diving 150 ft, you can't sprint for the surface anyway.

I always used to get some amusement from the concept of "safety stop"... Is it really improving your safety to be hanging with fish on you while sharks circle??:confused::shakehead:
 
Your tactics are going to vary depending on the size of fish you are targeting. A few little ones, or ONE big one are two completely different games to play.
 
You should NEVER be connected to your gun.
That said let me explain. When you are swimming (descending put your arm through the bands if you are deep diving till you reach where you load up. Once hunting, unless you are free shafting or using a riding rig, you do not want to be attached to the gun..
Situation --- You shoot a fish and a shark or jewfish grabs it and swims away. You have a problem. You shoot a fish and it entangles your shooting line on structure. You are now fastened to the bottom.
The reason spearguns have a hole, lanyard, ring at , butt or handle is to attach a lift bag or SMB
 
Michael,

I'm green at spearing on scuba as well, in fact I've only done a little practice with my spearfishing gear in a pool and have yet to shoot fish, but where I live has allowed me to meet seasoned spearos and gather a ton of information. I highly recommend picking up the DVD, "Barebones of Spearfishing". There are some great tips and techniques in the instructional video and it's dedicated to spearfishing on scuba in Florida and more importantly, doing it safe. In fact, I recently met with Kevin at Ocean Rhino and he gave me a bunch of great tips and was extremely helpful.

The few tips I can offer from what I've learned (some already have been stated) are never attach your gun to your body. An 8 ft. thug taking your catch and wrapping you in the line and into a wreck or ledge obviously spells disaster. People have died from this exact situation. Instead, immediately after the shot put one arm though the bands and then retrieve the fish. Having a buoyant gun and shooting down on the fish is key as those two aspects basically get the line out of the way so you can retrieve the fish and spear. Shooting down into the bottom also keeps the fish on the spear rather than going through and it ending up on your line. Get a one handed stringer that allows you to put the fish on the tip before opening it. Ocean Rhino makes one. Bring a light. Don't freeshaft your first time. A scooter will more than likely spook fish away from the area (remember you are now a hunter). You wouldn't roll up on a deer with a four wheeler. Not to mention you would be heavily task loaded at 100+ feet. Gun, stringer, hopefully fish (that may require deflating as you accend), possibly sharks, your standard gear and then to top it off with a scooter. Also, the regs are constantly changing with early closures, etc. so stay up to date with what's legal. Don't poach.

Finally, I've learned and it's prevalent in tons of bad YouTube spearfishing videos, the most important thing in effective spearfishing is shot placement. Do some research on this and the anatomy of the fish and the effects of a spear. Stoning a fish makes the hunt so much easier and many times it's just a matter of a couple fin kicks toward the fish to get it to turn away from you on an "angle" which allows you to put a perfect shot on the fish above the gill plate and behind the eye in the soft tissue. This will most likely stone the fish or at a minimum pin it so it can't swim. I've seen a ton of terrible spearfishing videos of guys impatiently just shooting fish in the face, at a 90 degree angle, or ruining the meat by blowing up the side. Remember too that your effective range is only about two shaft lengths and our vision is distorted underwater looking through a mask.

Anyway, like I said, I'm new to this too, but I hope this help. Perhaps others can add to what I've said here.

Oh, one more thing. If the taxman shows up and displays interest in you, establish dominance. Swim toward him with your gun, not away. Most prey are always caught from behind running away. :)
 
Wow - great information from someone that hasn't shot a fish yet. I'm being serious, no sarcasm. If you practice what you've written above and learn to do it repetitively, you will have a much better start than I did.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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